Did you ever stand on Peterborough station and hear the clock tick? Albert Taylor did. It got him a life sentence for a murder he didnt commit.
Fifteen-year-old Jackie Seston was raped and stabbed at her home in Mountsteven Avenue, Peterborough, between 1.30 and 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 2nd, 1973. Taylor, who was dating Jackies elder sister, gave an account of his movements. He said he arrived on Peterborough station platform at 1.15 p.m. and heard the station clock ticking. At 2 p.m. he arrived at the house, panicked at the sight of blood and fled. But at his trial for murder the court was told the clock made no sound, and he was found guilty.
Then came a new investigation. It found that while the station clock generally didnt tick, it did at 1.15 p.m. because it had a fault. That was enough for the Appeal Court to free Taylor after he had been in prison for almost five years.